Grant will help provide space for reduced class sizes

Vancouver Public Schools was selected to receive a $43 million grant from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The grant will be used to build and expand classrooms to make kindergarten through third-grade class sizes smaller. Smaller class sizes were funded by the Legislature and are required by the state of Washington by the 2017-18 school year.

This grant will pay for some, but not all, of the district’s ongoing work to meet this requirement and redesign older schools that no longer meet today’s teaching and learning needs. The district is in the second year of a public planning process to rebuild several older schools in the district. To begin building new schools, the VPS school board must approve a bond amount, and voters must approve the bond in February 2017.

In addition, the district must match a portion of the $43 million before it receives the grant money. VPS plans to do this by accessing part of its reserve fund. The money would be replaced if the district passes the bond next February.